European Parliament Rejects ACTA

The European Parliament at Brussels unequivocally rejected the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) with the vote count reading 478 Against, 39 In Favor, and 165 Abstentions. This implies that though countries outside the European Union could well participate, a global agreement is highly unlikely. The ACTA is an attempt to forge an international agreement to protect intellectual property and punish theft and piracy. Opponents, however, fear that the ACTA would lead to undue Internet censorship and a complete loss of privacy and freedom for users of the World Wide Web. Protests against the ACTA have been raging for a while now and one anti-ACTA petition drew as many as 2.8 million signatures.